This invention relates to the field of doorstop devices. More particularly, this invention relates to doorstops of the type that are mounted on the hinge pin of a door and prevent the door from being opened beyond a manually preset point to prevent the door from hitting an adjacent wall when it is opened. Even more particularly this invention relates to an adjustable hinge pin mounted doorstop.
Hinged doors must frequently be limited in their movement to prevent them banging walls and furniture. The prior art teaches a variety of solutions, both simple and complex, to limit the distance a door may be permitted to travel to prevent it from hitting walls and furniture and causing damage thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,724 teaches and claims a hinge pin swing doorstop comprised of a hinge pin replacement shaft that replaces the hinge pin in a hinge associated with a hinged object whose hinged rotation is to be limited. The top of the hinge pin replacement shaft extends beyond the hinge and is bent at a right angle with respect to the replacement shaft and is formed into a Vee shape with the Vee lying in a plane generally perpendicular to the axis of the hinge pin portion in the hinge. The end of the Vee shaped portion furthest from the hinge pin replacement shaft is threaded and has an internally threaded, length extending ferrule and a locking nut co-linearly screwed thereon. The outer end of the ferrule has a shock absorbing bumper mounted thereon. By loosening the locking nut and turning the length extending ferrule the length of the outer end of the Vee shaped portion can be lengthened or shortened to adjust how far a door on which the hinge pin swing doorstop taught in this patent can be opened before the shock absorbing bumper contacts the doorframe and prevents the door on which it is mounted from opening further.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,941 teaches and claims an adjustable hinge pin mounted doorstop consisting of an arm that has an inner end with a hole through which an existing hinge pin is inserted, and the outer end of the arm terminates in a threaded opening. A door hinge pin is removed, inserted through the inner end hole, and back into the hinge leaf holes to hold the hinge leaves together. A threaded post is received in the threaded opening on the outer end of the arm, and the threaded post has a padded, shocking absorbing bumper thereon that contacts the doorframe and prevents the door from opening beyond a certain point. How far the door can open before the bumper contacts the doorframe is set by how far the threaded post is turned through the threaded opening through the outer end of the arm.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,527,303 and 4,858,273 both teach and claim a hinge pin mounted doorstop having multiple mounting holes that are used to adjust how far a door may be opened. A door hinge pin is removed, inserted through one of the multiple mounting holes and back into the hinge leaf holes holding two hinge leaves together in a movable manner as is known in the art. These doorstops each have two shock absorbing bumpers and as the door on which the doorstop is hinge pin mounted is opened to its furthest position, as determined by the doorstop, one of the two bumpers contacts the door and the other of the two bumpers contacts the doorframe. How far the door can be opened before the bumpers contact the door and the doorframe is set by the one of the multiple mounting holes through which the hinge pin is inserted.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,289 teaches and claims a hinge mounted adjustable doorstop, but the entire hinge must be replaced, or an existing hinge must be removed and modified. Thus, this adjustable doorstop is more impractical than others taught in the prior art.
The problem with all these prior art hinge pin mounted adjustable doorstops is that they must all contact the wood of the door and the doorframe. If the door is not opened carefully, the relatively small rubber bumpers of the prior art adjustable doorstops place a lot of force on the wood. Depressions are caused in the wood and eventually the rubber bumpers break and exposed metal ends more seriously damage the wood of the door and the doorframe. These prior art doorstops also have another shortcoming. They all have a very limited range of adjustability. That is, the angle of adjustment for stopping the travel of a door is limited.
Thus, there is a need in the prior art for a relatively simple, hinge pin mounted, adjustable doorstop that has no rubber pieces that can wear out and eventually break, that does not contact the wood of a door or doorframe and thereby mar or damage the wood, and that has a wide adjustment range.
The foregoing need in the prior art for a simple, hinge pin mounted, adjustable doorstop that does not contact the wood of a door or doorframe, and that does not have rubber pieces that can wear out, is satisfied by the present invention.
The present invention is a small, all metal, adjustable doorstop that easily and quickly mounts on the existing hinge pin of a door hinge and only contacts the metal leaves of the door hinge on which the doorstop is mounted to limit the travel of the door on opening. In addition, the present invention permits providing control of how far a door can be opened that is in the order of ninety (90) percent of the normal travel of the door.